I wrote a blog in November 2009 regarding how every woman is beautiful in her own unique way & how us women are so very hard and judgmental on ourselves. . .I try really hard NOT to fall into it, but it can be so very hard with all the magazines and product ads with their airbrushed & photoshop models. Lets not forget the commercials on TV & Radio trying to convince us that we all need liposuction, botox or breast augmentation to be "truly beautiful". That's all a bunch of rubbish! In my post, "I AM NOT BARBIE", I compare all of us women as a part of flower garden and if every flower garden looked exactly the same it wouldn't be very interesting to look at for very long. It's our individuality that makes us beautiful. You can read that full blog post HERE.
I was happy to read about these Young women's success and goals to help spread the word of loving our own beauty and they are standing up against the distorted image of what society tells us women what we should look like. Read about their campaign BY CLICKING HERE.
10 Deeply disturbing women and body image facts:
2. The average size of the “ideal” woman, as portrayed by models, has become progressively thinner over the years and has stabilized at around 20% below the average weight. This thin ideal is unachievable for most women. A 1995 study found that three minutes spent looking at models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and ashamed.
3. It is estimated that 40-50% of American women are trying to lose weight at any point in time.
4. One out of every four college aged women has an eating disorder.
5. Almost half of all women smokers smoke because they see it as the best way to control their weight. Of these women, 25% will die of a disease caused by smoking.
Models often smoke to control their appetite.
6. At age thirteen, 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” This grows to 78% by the time girls reach seventeen.
7. In a sample of male and female high school students, girls had higher body dissatisfaction scores than boys on all measures. Girls reported magazines as their primary source of information regarding diet and health. Boys reported their parents as their primary source of information. These are the typical messages girls can expect to get from women’s magazines:
8. A majority of girls in a 1999 study (59 percent) reported dissatisfaction with their body shape, and 66 percent expressed a desire to lose weight. Only 29 percent of the girls were overweight.
9. At 5’9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 which is considered severely underweight. Because of her ridiculous proportions (39” bust, 18” waist, 33” thighs and a size 3 shoes!), if she was a real woman, she wouldn’t be able to walk upright – she would have to walk on all fours. Note that the target market for Barbie Doll sales are girls ages 3 to 12.
10. Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007. Women had nearly 10.6 million cosmetic procedures, 91% percent of the total.
LET'S STOP THE INSANITY!!
I am a strong believer in taking care of our bodies and working to do what we can to improve our overall health and happiness. . . and health, body shape, beauty and happiness are VERY individual :)
*I am a small woman, but believe me big or small EVERYONE probably has something we focus on & are unhappy about. I know it's crazy at times when I stare in the mirror and all I see is the part of my body I think isn't 'perfect'. The truth is this crazy mind set of not ever being 'perfect enough' effects even the women that everyone wants to look like.
Also you can buy a "There Could Never Be A More Beautiful You" t-shirt from the Singer/Songwriter Johny Diaz' website by clicking here
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